45. Mackenzie
Chapter 45
Mackenzie
I haven’t seen the guys properly in the last couple of days, and I am starting to wonder what is going on. I told them about the baby, and they seemed happy, but now they’ve been avoiding me. I tried to question Tino yesterday about this new distance, and he was all cagey.
Their absence is making me sick and panicky. I’ve already lost both my parents. The idea of bringing up a baby alone in this world is too terrifying to contemplate.
I check my phone for the gazillionth time, but there’s nothing. No text, no calls. They haven’t even come around to see me, and it’s not like they don’t know where my room is. Have they been talking behind my back, making different plans than the one they said to my face? Maybe I should take things into my own hands and track them down and demand to know what the fuck they’re playing at, but my insecurities have raised their heads with full force.
The truth is that I’m petrified of hearing what they might say.
Staring at the ceiling, I try not to cry. When Nataniele offered us his living quarters, it seemed as if everything was going to be all right for once. I dared to hope … to dream. I should have known better. Life has never been kind to me, so why would it start now?
Hand on my currently non-existent bump, I talk to the baby. “I need to stop the self-pity, huh? I’m going to be your momma, and I need to become brave and strong to do that. I want you to learn from me if you’re a girl. I want you to not always have to rely on others. If you’re a boy, I want to teach you respect for girls, and to be kind, not just fierce.”
Will I find out at the scan what sex the baby is? Will the men want to know?
Thinking about them kicks the melancholy back in, but as I stew on their ignoring me, it turns to anger. How dare they? One of them is this kid’s biological father, and if they’re going to screw around like this, I’ll take a paternity test and make damn well sure they pay their way.
Emotionally and mentally, I’m all over the place.
Elated one moment. Terrified the next. Angry, then sad. Do the hormones kick in this early? I need to read up on this, learn more about what to expect.
I pick up my tablet and scroll online stores for books about pregnancy. I pick three that look the most informative and order them.
My phone buzzes, and I glance at it, my heart pounding in anticipation. I groan out loud in disappointment when I see it’s just a text from Camile.
I should be glad to hear from her, but I really wanted it to be one of the guys.
Hey, bestie. You need to get your ass down to the main lecture hall now. Major shit going down. Entire school has been called.
What the hell? My stomach flip-flops with anxiety. What now? Oh, God, could it be more security breaches?
As much as I don’t want to leave my room, I can’t ignore this. I hope it’s nothing, and the school is just being overly cautious after what happened.
Throwing myself off the bed, I push my feet into some slides and check my hair in the mirror. I have to admit I’m not looking my best, and as much as I don’t want to care, I also know if I see any of the Devils, I don’t want to look like shit. I’ve always done my best to hide how I feel inside, and I won’t stop now. I’m the Duchess, and I’ll hold my head high, no matter what. I fluff my hair a little, add some gloss to my lips and a spray of perfume, and then set off to the lecture hall.
The biggest lecture hall doubles as an assembly room, too, as it has a stage and is also used for shows and other performances. I arrive and take a seat at the back. Everyone is here. I’ve never seen it this full.
Glancing at the front, I gasp. Dom, Tino, and Kirill are standing on the stage. What the fuck? Have they done something wrong?
My stomach twists with nerves, and I shake my head at myself. Of course they’ve done something wrong—at least in the eyes of the law. They’ve killed people, and so have I. Is that what all this is about? I’d been worried about bringing up a baby alone, but suddenly a different possibility hits me. What if the FBI are involved, and they’re about to pull me onstage, too? I might have to give birth in prison and never get to see my baby.
Or maybe this is all the Devils’ doing, and they’ve found some other way to humiliate me?
All the shit they’ve put me through in the past rushes back to me. The way they’ve repeatedly degraded me in front of others. What they did to me at my mother’s wedding. Is this going to be the same?
Tears prick my eyes as a wave of intense fear washes over me. Surely, they wouldn’t? Not after everything we’ve been through together. What if it was all a ruse, though? What if they don’t feel anything for me, and this has all been a game?
No, that can’t be true. Kirill most definitely couldn’t have faked his fear and sadness in that basement. He was a mess.
What if Dom has decided he doesn’t want me here again, though?
Camile walks up the central aisle, her gaze sweeping the seats.
“There you are.” She reaches for me and takes my hand. “Come on.”
“What? Where?”
Despite my fears, I allow her to lead me down toward the stage. At first, I let her, but as we near, I begin to pull back. The entire school is here. This is so scary. I can’t get on that stage.
There’s a deep-down part of me that believes the Devils won’t do anything cruel to me now, because they’re mine, and I am theirs, but there’s a tiny voice that whispers I’m wrong. I’m a stupid girl who loved a murderer. A stupid girl who let three men claim her at once. A stupid girl who caused her own mother’s death with her selfish actions.
“Camile, no,” I whisper. “I can’t. Don’t do this.”
But then we’re at the stage, and Kirill hops down.
“Kirill?” I say, a question in my tone.
He grins at me and surprises me by kissing my mouth quickly. Then he lifts me with ease to place me on the stage, before he jumps back up himself.
Oh, shit. The lights of the hall are blinding, and I can’t see the rest of the students’ faces. Maybe it’s for the best. My heart pounds, and my throat is dry. What the hell is going on?
“Everyone, thanks for coming,” Dom says into the mic he’s holding. “There’s been a lot of rumors flying around about me and my friends, and Mackenzie, and we would like to clarify things and clear up those rumors.”
Tino grabs the mic. “Some of you think she’s with me, but she’s not.”
Oh, fuck, here we go. My stomach plummets.
Kirill takes it next. “Some of you have talked about her being with me, but she’s not.”
Dom takes the mic again. “She’s with all of us.”
I stare at him in shock. Did I hear him right? Has he just told the whole fucking school we’re a foursome? Oh, my God, I’m going to be seen as such a slut.
Murmurs sweep around the auditorium. My face flares red, and I wish the stage would open up and swallow me.
“We love her.” Dom’s words silence the noise and chatter.
Holy shit.
I stare at him, my mouth half open in shock.
Kirill takes the mic. “But we treated her like shit at first, and we owe her an apology. We did terrible things to her, and we did it because we’re idiots. Mostly Dom,” he says with a chuckle as Dom tries to smack him but misses. “But me and Tino, too. We don’t deserve you, Mackenzie,” he says. “But if you can forgive us, we will spend our lives making it up to you. We will serve you as our perfect Duchess. I had something done for you.”
He lifts his t-shirt, and there’s new, raw ink on his pec. It’s writing, but I can’t read it as the script is unfamiliar.
“This says Kukla , in Russian,” he explains. “You are right here, over my heart.”
Then Dom lifts his t-shirt, and he has a set of teeth marks inked on his skin in the same place. What the fuck? I stare at it in shock.
“Your teeth marks on me, baby. Always.”
The students whistle, and some clap.
“Hey,” Tino says, grabbing the mic. “The best is last.”
He lifts his t-shirt too, but then pulls his pants low on his narrow hips. The audience whoops and whistles, some encouraging him to reveal more. Low down on his groin, between those glorious V-Muscles on either side, is the word ‘Duchess.’
“This is for you, sweet girl. I went for having you above my cock,” he says with that patented, devastating grin of his, “though I was tempted to have your name on it, since it’s all yours now.”
Dom takes the mic again, and they close in together, facing me. As one, they all drop to one knee in front of me.
“Mackenzie,” Dom says, “we know it can’t be legally binding, but Verona Falls is a world within a world. A place of its own rules and customs. We want you to be our wife. We want you to belong to all three of us in the eyes of our community here. Do you say yes?”
Kirill produces a box from his pocket and passes it to Tino, who pops it open. Inside is a sparkling, massive solitaire.
From the audience, a female voice yells, “This is fucking bullshit,” and there’s a flurry of movement as the person the voice belongs to storms out. It barely registers that it’s Verity who’s left. I’m far too occupied to care about her.
I stare at the ring, and, with tears streaming down my cheeks, I nod.
“Yes,” I shout. “Yes, yes, yes. All the yeses.”
Camile hollers and whoops and jumps up and down clapping. Kirill takes the ring out of the box and places it on my finger, and Dom takes my hand and kisses the back of it.
My heart overflows with happiness.
“Did we make up for all the shit, Duchess?” Tino asks softly. “At least a little? It’s only the start. We’ll spend forever making it right.”
“It’s the best start I can imagine,” I say happily.
“Free bar all night, on us, in the college pub,” Dom shouts into the mic.
The students cheer and clap and begin to file out of the hall, all ready to go and party.
“Thought we could maybe just go for one drink and then head back,” Dom says. “Spend the night in the den, watching a movie?”
“And other stuff,” Kirill adds.
I laugh. “And other stuff, of course. That sounds perfect.”
We walk out together—me, flanked by my three men.
In the hallway, we see Zane. He’s standing back, one leg bent at the knee, leaning against the wall. He stares at us as we walk by, and his gaze crawls all over me as his smirk tells me exactly what he thinks of me.
“What are you staring at, fucker?” Tino growls.
Zane doesn’t answer or give any sort of response. He just keeps watching me, that smirk on his lips, and then we’re gone, turning the corner.
The men are surrounding me, cocooning me and making me feel safe, and even though I’m nervous about facing all the students in the bar, I know I can do it with them at my side.